Urbanexus Update - Issue #30
Real estate trends
Potential real estate bubbles — www.visualcapitalist.com
UBS says cracks are starting to show at the top end of the property market, according to its recent analysis.
Trends shaping an uncertain 2019
The Urban Land Institute’s annual look at real estate and community development in the year ahead focuses on technology and transformation at an uncertain moment
Office
Given the backdrop of 94 consecutive months of job growth, office REITs should be having their time in the sun. Instead, fundamentals remain disappointing as supply growth negates solid demand.
Retail
Sears files for bankruptcy — www.nytimes.com The retail chain struggled to adapt to changes in how Americans shop and engaged in risky financial engineering, racking up big losses.
A brief history of shopping from Sears to Amazon
Published posthumously, this is an essay by Stefan Kanfer (1933–2018) on the evolution of American retail from the 19th century mail order catalog of Sears & Roebuck, to the downtown department stores of the early 20th century, the malls that spread across the USA in the decades following World War II to the more recent rise of Amazon and Internet retailing.
Myths about E-commerce’s effect on retail real estate
News headlines such as “Retail Is Dead” have painted a picture of desolation and destruction for the current state of retail real estate in the United States. However, while e-commerce “is the most discussed, it’s also the most misunderstood,” according to Melina Cordero, global head of retail research for CBRE.
An interesting transaction
Sale of the Ferry Building in San Francisco
Hudson Pacific Properties Inc. (NYSE: HPP) and Allianz Real Estate have formed a joint venture to acquire the Ferry Building in downtown San Francisco. Located at the foot of Market Street along the San Francisco Bay waterfront, the landmark features 192,532 square feet of office space and 75,486 square feet of retail space.
Equity Office, an affiliate of the Blackstone Group, sold the leasehold interest in the land and improvements to the Ferry Building to the joint venture for $291 million. The remaining term on the ground lease, which is owned by the Port of San Francisco, is 49 years.
Parking
Garages in new homes — eyeonhousing.org
A majority of new homes that completed construction in 2017 included two-car garages, according to NAHB analysis of 2017 Census Bureau Survey of Construction.
Homelessness
Seattle City Council debates erecting giant tents for the homeless — mynorthwest.com Should Seattle follow San Diego and L.A.'s lead and use large sprung tents that can house hundreds to get people off the streets and on a path to housing?
Governmental solvency
State fiscal rankings A new study ranks the 50 states according to their financial condition. How does your state rank?
Maps
Amazing mapping — www.nytimes.com
Explore your community with this interactive map courtesy of the New York Times and Microsoft.
Environment and public health
Significant climate change risks as early as 2040
Even the most optimistic scenario for climate change isn’t great at all. A report from the United Nations’ scientific panel on climate change paints a far more dire picture of the immediate consequences of climate change than previously thought and says that avoiding the damage requires transforming the world economy at a speed and scale that has “no documented historic precedent.”
What to do about the climate outlook? A new report paints a stark portrait of how quickly the planet is heating up. With a new round of international climate negotiations set for December, the next months will be crucial.
What climate change taught us about hurricanes |
Over the last 30 years, we’ve become better able to predict hurricane risk — both in terms of individual storms and the risk a full season might bring. We can prepare for hurricanes more effectively today than we could a generation ago. And, experts say, climate change research is partly to thank for that.
The numbers behind America’s opioid epidemic Drug overdoses are the leading cause of death for Americans under the age of 50. These maps and charts provide a hard look at America's opioid epidemic.
Around the world
Irish housing protest — www.thisisplace.org
The latest angry protest over a housing shortage in Dublin that has sparked sharp increases in rent and homelessness. While Ireland was left with a surplus of houses after a property crash in 2008, it has come nowhere near providing the number needed to keep up with a rapid economic recovery, with rents in Dublin almost 20 percent above their pre-crisis peak.